The flight time changes were scheduled after WestJet received feedback from the Medicine Hat community. File Photo/CHAT News

By Olivia Thorington

TRANSPORTATION

WestJet’s new Medicine Hat flight schedule launches

Dec 5, 2024 | 10:34 AM

A new schedule for the only flight in and out of Medicine Hat launched Thursday, a planned change made after WestJet heard feedback from the city’s business community and political leaders.

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READ: WestJet changes course on new Medicine Hat flight times

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WestJet’s Encore service now departs Medicine Hat Regional Airport at 7:30 a.m. and arrives in Calgary at 8:16 a.m.

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The evening flight takes off at 6:35 p.m. from Calgary International Airport and lands in Medicine Hat at 7:30 p.m.

Graphic/CHAT News

The new flight times are only the latest update to WestJet’s local service this year.

WestJet on Oct. 1 transitioned its Medicine Hat-to-Calgary service from Link to Encore, cutting down the number of outbound and inbound flights from three to one each.

However, it replaced the older 34-seat Saab 340 aircraft it used for those flights in favour of the newer 78-seat De Havilland Dash 8-400.

The new permanent route was initially planned to have flights depart at 7 a.m. from Medicine Hat in the morning and then have a return flight arrive at 12:35 a.m. from Calgary.

Those times were in place from Oct. 27 until Dec. 4.

Medicine Hat’s business community has since the spring expressed frustration at WestJet’s frequency cutback.

The change to a later departure and earlier arrival comes after senior WestJet officials received feedback during a roundtable on Oct. 2 at the airport, according to a city news release.

The session, hosted by the City of Medicine Hat and the Southeast Alberta Chamber of Commerce, took place in the Super T Aviation hanger and was closed off to the media.

After the roundtable was complete, reporters were allowed back in.

WestJet’s alliances and airport affairs director Jared Mikoch-Gerke acknowleged then the new departure and arrival times “aren’t necessarily optimal.”

“But we know that the majority of users who are traveling are connecting to somewhere else,” Mikoch-Gerke told CHAT News.

Premier Danielle Smith said earlier this year that Medicine Hat has the potential to be a remote work hub as Canadians flee high costs of living in larger cities.But easy access to an international airport like those found in Calgary and Edmonton is essential.

Smith, who also serves as MLA for Brooks-Medicine Hat, said in May her United Conservative government wants to improve air access to medium and small cities across Alberta, including in Medicine Hat.

She floated the idea of government-subsidized flights that could help grow rural service.